Why are we so obsessed with band reunions these days? It seems there has been quite a series of resurrection from the past in these past 2 years, may be it is always the case, but I have the feeling it is worst than usual. The Stone Roses, Blur, and the Postal Service at this year's Coachella, Refused at last year’s FYF fest, Black Sabbath is back with a new album and a tour, Fleetwood Mac and the Rolling Stones are on the road again, The Beach Boys were touring not too long ago! Let’s see, recently, there were also Pulp, Dinosaur Jr, Public Image Ltd., Grandaddy, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Fall Out Boys, My Bloody Valentine,… and even Black Flag is touring this summer! Only the Smiths are resisting.
It seems we are never done with the past, we like these reunions, no, we love them, tickets for the Stones go on sale for their LA show this Monday, and I bet I will not be able to get one!
So why, you may ask? Of course money is always in the balance, this and 'pleasing the fans', but at least the Sex Pistols had the decency to admit it when they reunited in 1996, with John Lydon declaring, ‘we have found a common cause and its your money’.
But why are septuagenarians – I mean a lot of them are in their 70s and many are rich enough – bother touring again? Of course this doesn’t apply to all the bands cited above, but nobody is getting younger, and musicians seem to never retire. Plus if they broke up, they had a good reason to do so, and I always wonder why this good reason vanishes with time. Take the band Refused I have mentioned above, when they quit in 1998, they wrote: ‘We will never play together again and we will never try to glorify or celebrate what was, WE THEREFORE DEMAND THAT EVERY NEWSPAPER BURN ALL THEIR PHOTOS OF REFUSED’,… err never says never, okay?
One of the problems with band reunions is the line up, some bands have changed theirs so many times that a reunion may not be the one fans expect, and this new Black Flag tour is a perfect example of this situation. Another problem is to resurrect the past, and this is impossible, time has passed and looking at old faces singing old tunes is sometimes the equivalent of archaeological digging in our memory: it may be fun or a complete disaster because you may see something you didn’t want to see. Songs and performances are attached to a period in time, and witnessing them again may create a total anachronism. Plus, our memory works in mysterious way, it is a strange animal and mostly false, the more we think about a specific thing, the further from reality it becomes, so good luck at recreating this imaginary past! Band reunions are mostly disappointing, and very often not the nostalgia journey you expected.
If the band hasn’t played for decades, what is the appeal for young people who have obviously never seen them live? This is different in this case, there is a vague expectation but no real memory, just the collective memory the internet has become. There is no doubt that YouTube has become our collective remembrance of music, and has triggered a new interest for old bands among the young generation. The web is truly this memory, but it’s no better, it’s full of inaccuracy, edited videos, photoshopped pictures.
I am not that young, but I have never seen the Rolling Stones live. If I get a ticket for their show at the Staples center, I will go but I will not expect too much. I am well aware that I will not be seeing the Stones live during their early 80s big arena rock tour, Mick Jagger is 69 for god's sake! If I don’t get a ticket, I can always console myself by thinking we can’t never resurrect the past.